Superwomen of Eva: Legacies: Marvelous Future
by Cody MacArthur Fett
Summary: Suzuhara Sakura always wanted to be a hero like the Eva pilots, or Captain Marvel, or Stargirl, or even her English teacher Billy Batson. One mistake seems to show how silly that dream is, until a strange man tells her that she is indeed worthy. Now she'll become empowered by some of the greatest heroines in history and join the legacy of the Marvel Family whenever she says SHAZAM!
1. Issue 1

_Marvelous Future_ #1

Written by Cody MacArthur Fett

Edited by Bob Regent and Cyclone

* * *

In the year 2000, the world was changed forever, and the Age of Heroes ended. Millions of children that had grown up with heroes and heroines to inspire them were forced to confront the realization that there would be no more last minute rescues, no promise of a bright tomorrow, and no ray of hope in the dark abyss that had become the Earth. All was lost, it seemed, until a bright blue streak of light had swooped out of the sky to save a falling plane, just as her predecessor had done at the start of the first Age of Heroes.

And so, for the first time in a decade and a half, children could look up to the sky and know that there were heroes and heroines that would save the day. Such was the case with one Suzuhara Sakura, a ten year old girl waiting at that very moment on the side of the mountain at the center of her home city of Tokyo-3 for a chance to catch a glimpse of her hero. Her big, strong, manly hero.

Yes, manly, for her hero was not the inspiring Supergirl that had so captured the hopes of the city's citizens, but rather a young man by the name of Ikari Shinji. For you see, Ikari Shinji was not just a handsome and dependable young man with enchanting blue eyes and an adorable mop of brown hair, but he was also an Evangelion pilot. The Evangelions were the ultimate triumph of mankind, humanoid cyborgs 80 meters tall that were able to use their absolute territory fields to neutralize the defenses of the Angels, giant monsters that sought to lay siege to their homes and city, and Shinji was the designated pilot of Evangelion Unit-01, replacing the daring and courageous Ayanami Rei who had so efficiently done battle with the first Angel to fall against her city like a wave against a cliff. The young Sakura had learned all this from the Japanese edition of the _Daily Planet_ , many of whose issues now decorated the walls of her room.

She had thought that that she would have to make do with just that, but to her great excitement, the next Angel attacked while she was at school, and she had been shuttled with the rest of the school children into one of the Central Mountain shelters near the school. It was from there that she made her escape. Nothing serious, mind you! She just snuck out of the shelter for a little bit to watch the battle between her darling Shinji and the horrific Angel.

And what a horror it was! The pink monstrosity had wiggly energy whip things and insect-like grabby bits that looked like bone on a body that looked like a fishing lure. She couldn't wait to see it get punched in the face!

Just as Shinji began firing a gun - a MM-99 pallet rifle, if she remembered the article right - at it, though, something strange happened. The sound of the gun firing and hitting the Angel lasted for all of a second, and then, it stopped. The battle was still raging, but she couldn't hear any of it. She could still hear the wind and her hand moving through the grass that she was sitting on, but everything in the city had gone eerily quiet. There was just . . . nothing.

All of a sudden, a loud voice cut through the quiet and was heard everywhere; even Unit-01 turned and seemed to take notice it.

" **NERV!**. . . You laughed at me! You said my inventions were useless! Intergang said that they didn't measure up after they _squandered_ them against Supergirl! But I'll show them. I'll show you. I'll show you all! I will use my inventions to kill the Angel! Not the Eva! Me! Walter Shreeve!"

It was then that Sakura saw the impossible. A figure, tiny and almost unnoticeable next to the titans fighting in front of it, stood atop a building and projected a pair of beams towards the giants. They were silent, like everything else, but the young girl could see them. She could see them push the colossi _back_.

Then a blue and red streak flashed above her and towards the figure, and then the beams stopped. All seemed quiet, and then the world shook. The figure and Supergirl started fighting, and around them, the titans resumed their clash. Sound returned to normal, and the air was drowned in the din of battle. Sakura couldn't be happier.

Suddenly, over the din of battle, she heard someone coming up behind her.

"Sakura!" shouted her big brother Toji as he came bounding over the hill. "Sakura! What are you doing out here?!"

"Oh, hi there, big brother! I just came out to watch the Evas, and then that loud man came out here and started screaming something about 'showing them all', and then . . ." Sakura was cut off by her big brother's arms wrapping around her.

"Don't you ever do that again!" Tōji sobbed. "Do you have any idea how much I . . . don't ever, ever, ever go out of the shelter again! Do you hear me?!"

"Big brother, it's okay. We're okay," Sakura said softly into her brother's shoulder.

She was a dummy, Sakura realized. A big fat dummy. She had completely ignored her brother's feeling and the feelings of everyone else. She was a selfish . . .

"Run!" Kensuke shouted, and as he did, everyone looked to see a giant block of ferrocrete flying towards them.

Sakura's mind went blank, believing herself to soon be dead. It would never come to pass, however, for the Girl of Tomorrow, none other than Supergirl, had caught the piece of rubble. Unfortunately, the wonder of the situation was ruined by Mr. Shreeve hitting the ground with a large bang and making a crater. The young girl did take that moment to be glad that she wasn't nearly as big a dummy as him.

"Run to the sewers!" Supergirl ordered, her angelic voice, both firm and comforting, driving them to act.

Her big brother took her in his arms and ran. The group practically flew down the path, but along the way, Hikari slipped and fell down the hill.

"Hikari!" Sakura screamed with the rest of the group even as her heart collapsed.

She survived, and yelled back at them to continue on to the catacombs. Sakura wasn't listening clearly though, she was . . . She was paralyzed with guilt. She liked Hikari, she was kind to her, always willing to help her with problems at school or with homework, and her big brother really liked her, even if the big dummy wouldn't admit it. She might lose a mentor, and her brother might lose the only chance he would ever get at finding true love, and it was all her fault.

Her guilt-ridden haze was broken by her brother setting her down on the street, and then grabbing her hand very strongly.

"Ken! You know where the nearest entrance is?!" Toji asked over the din and noise.

"Not really!" Kensuke yelled back before raising his camera to his face and snapping a few more photographs.

Sakura blinked some of the tears out of her eyes just in time for the world to turn brown and grey as they were hit by a massive dust cloud. As they were coughing and hacking, the young girl looked up to see a dark man in a trench coat moving down the street.

"Hey!" Sakura called. "There's a man over there, maybe he knows where to go!"

Toji looked up and saw the man turn a corner up ahead. "I see him. Let's go, Ken!"

The trio followed, running as fast as they could with their shirts held up to their noses, but by the time they got to the corner, he was gone. Sakura scanned around, searching for him again, and found the dark shape descending down a flight of stairs not far from them.

"Over there!" she called out.

The trio once again ran towards where they had seen the man, and when they got there, they found an underground subway station entrance. They had found shelter. Unfortunately, the entrance was sealed off with heavy steel doors that opened Western-style.

"Come on! He made it through, so can we!" Toji declared.

And with that, both he and Kensuke grabbed hold of the bar on the side of the door, and as soon as Toji pulled the handle, they pulled the bar with all their might. Sakura too, though she was weak, also contributed to the pulling. Guilt still flowed through her, and she was compelled to help in any way she could.

Still, with all of them pulling together, they managed to get the door open. Then, without wasting a second, they scurried inside. Then came closing the door again. Thanks to the pressure difference, though, it was far easier than opening it.

"Come on," Toji said softly in between heavy breaths, "let's get down to the shelter."

They descended down into the depths, their footfalls echoing while the sounds of the people huddling in the station up ahead wafted through the tunnel. They reached the entrance, and were struck by the huddled masses of people crammed together on the station, practically falling onto the tracks. It was into this pit that they moved, Sakura shuffling closer to her brother as they moved.

Soon, they were approached by an older gentleman and what looked like his wife.

"Hey, you two lads and the lass come in from outside?" he asked in a confused tone of English.

"Yeah, we were following some man in a trenchcoat after we were forced to leave our shelter. He should have been just ahead of us," Toji explained, letting go of Sakura's hand briefly.

"Man in trenchcoat? You sure about that, laddie? You kids are the first ones to show up since the battle started," the man's wife put in.

"That's impossible."

"I don't know, man. You and your sister were the only ones to see a man in a trenchcoat. I never saw him."

"That's because you have your head in your . . ."

Sakura tuned the voices out, and suddenly, everything got very dull, like she was wearing a veil and earmuffs. It was almost like when the loud man had shown up outside, but not quite. Something wasn't dull though, and it was beneath the train. She wasn't sure how she knew it was there, but she knew that something was there, something important. Was anyone else moving?

When she reached the subway docked at the station, she crouched down and weaved her small hand in between the gap between the platform and the car. She was practically laying on the cool concrete by that point, and her hand was pawing around the bottom of the car, moving over dirty tubes and wires, looking for something. Suddenly, her hand came upon a smooth stone between one of the springs and the bottom of the car, and she picked it up.

* * *

Sakura's world was filled with light, and incredibly, fantastically, and beyond all shadow of imagination, she found herself in a brightly lit cave. Behind her was smooth and solid stone, to her sides were murals depicting some of the greatest heroes and villains the world had ever known, and in front of her was a throne, a throne with an old man with a giant white beard upon it. The ten year old felt humbled and humiliated standing there, knowing that she didn't deserve to be in their presence.

"Come closer, child. You have nothing to be ashamed of," the old man said gently.

Sakura slowly and silently walked towards him, but she did not say silent. "You're wrong. I do have something to be ashamed of."

"Do you now? What is it then? If you do not confess your sins, they will only be your downfall," the old man consoled kindly.

"I . . . I was selfish," Sakura choked out, tears in her eyes. "I snuck out of the shelter because I wanted to see Shinji and Unit-01 fight the Angel. They were so cool, and I so wanted to . . . and . . . and . . . and we were almost killed, and Hikari might be hurt or worse, and my big brother might lose everything, and it's all my fault, and . . ."

By now she was close enough that the old man was able to reach out and wipe away the tears on her cheeks with a handkerchief, and then follow it up with a hug.

"Do not despair, Suzuhara Sakura. You are not the villain you think you are," the old man assured her.

"How could you know that?" Sakura sobbed.

"Because you are here," he explained. The young girl stood back at this, her eyes puffy and confused. "This room, and I, are not real. It is all a projection, set to appear should someone ever activate the artifact of power made by the wizard Shazam, in whose image I am made. 'All in your head,' in other words."

"Shazam . . . from the Marvel family?! Like Captain Marvel?!" Sakura realized, her eyes growing wide.

The projection of Shazam nodded. "The artifact was made in the event of something terrible happening to Shazam and the world, a great calamity or death. So that the power of the Marvel family should not be lost, the artifacts were forged to survive anything and built with special qualifiers whose terms are written upon them to prevent the power from falling into the wrong hands. Upon the stone you picked up is written that 'whosoever shall hold this stone, be they worthy, shall possess the power of Mary Marvel'!"

"I . . . I don't understand," Sakura got out.

"You have been found worthy of possessing the grace of **S** elena, the strength of **H** ippolyta, the cunning of **A** riadne, the fleetness of **Z** ephyrus, the stamina of **A** talanta, and wisdom of **M** inerva, and you will be granted those powers whenever you say the world SHAZAM!"

There was a huge peal of thunder, and lightning struck a wall to spell out all these powers. It was in language that Sakura didn't know, but somehow, she understood it all the same. She couldn't help but back away on instinct.

"I don't think that I'm worthy. I've done a terrible thing, I . . ."

". . . Will make amends," the projection finished for her. "You must do so, and be responsible and honorable in all your dealings from this point forward. For the power is yours, now that you have found the artifact, and whether by destiny or choice, you must now become Earth's Mightiest Mortal to defend good and decent people everywhere, and shine light into the dark places."

"I don't think that I can . . ."

"You can, you must, and you will."

"I-I-I . . ." Sakura stammered. "SHAZAM!"

A bolt of lightning reached down from nothingness and struck Sakura. There was a tremendous crack and a bang, and the room was flooded with light. There was smoke everywhere from the blast, such that one could not see.

Then it began to clear, and out of the mist stepped a woman, tall and strong. She was dressed in a loose red t-shirt and skirt, both with a gold outline. A gold sash was tied around her waist, and around her collar was a braided rope that secured a white cloak with gold edge and four stylized gold fleur-de-lis' on the left edge that now lay across her shoulders. A pair of gold boots completed the outfit, and the high collar of her cloak framed the confident face of a woman in the prime of her life with beautiful short brown hair.

The woman looked down, and flexed her hands. She closed her eyes, and her lips trembled.

"I don't know if good enough for this, but I want to be," she said softly.

"Virtue isn't something that simply happens. It is a constant struggle, but you are up for the challenge," the projection said proudly. "Now go Suzuhara Sakura, and prove yourself worthy of the legacy of Mary Marvel!"

* * *

"That's because you have your head in your camera," Toji said to Kensuke.

Sakura blinked away the disorientation from her eyes and looked around. She was back in the shelter by her brother's side, like nothing had happened. Still, she felt an odd weight in the custom pocket that Hikari had helped her sew into her school jumper. Reaching into it, she felt a strange stone with words etched into it that she somehow instinctively knew what it meant.

 _It wasn't a dream_ , she realized. It meant that she still had work to do.

". . . I'm sorry, but that's just the way I feel," Toji said before feeling a strong squeeze in his hand. He looked down to find his sister smiling up at him. "But I suppose it doesn't matter now."

"Excuse me for interrupting, but were you three caught in the dust cloud of a collapsing building?" the man suddenly asked.

"Uh, yes?" Kensuke admitted.

"Then you're going to want to see a doctor we have down here so your lungs don't explode," the man clarified.

"Explode?!" the trio exclaimed as one.

* * *

A little over an hour later, Sakura was walking along the city streets with her brother while rubbing her throat. She was grateful for the doctor helping them out, she really was, but boy-o-boy did it ever smart. It was nothing less than extraordinary that a subway infirmary would have the equipment necessary to clean out their lungs, but still, it smarted!

There was a ringing on her brother's smartphone, and he picked it up quick as a whip and answered. "Moshi-moshi. . . . Hikari?! You're alive! Where are you? Are you all right?"

Sakura's heart soared. Hikari was alive! She was alive! Alive! Alive! Alive!

"They're both doing great. Ken ran off to continue reporting as soon as the all-clear came through, and Sakura's right here with me," Tōji replied something Hikari had said with a sigh. "Are you sure you're all right, class rep?"

 _Please be all right. Please be all right. Please be all right_ , Sakura chanted to herself.

"OK then, rest up, Hikari. We'll see you soon," her brother said with a hopeful tone. "Good night."

He ended the call, and then turned to find his sister staring up at him with wide eyes.

"Is Hikari going to be OK?" Sakura asked desperately.

"I think so," Toji replied. "She sounded pretty roughed up though, but she says that she just needs to get cleaned up. . . . I hope she's right."

"We should go and check on her," Sakura threw out.

"Yeah, we should . . ." Toji was interrupted by more ringing on his smartphone, and naturally, he answered it. "Moshi-moshi. . . . Oh, hello, dad!"

Sakura wondered if Toji would let her have the phone this time, but that desire waned as she saw her brother's expression do the same. Soon, he covered the phone with his hand and turned to face her. She somehow knew that she wouldn't like what he was going to say.

"He got a call from the school. He is _peeved_ ," Toji whispered.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she laid down in her futon latter that night. She had reason to sigh too; she had been grounded for _weeks_. She deserved it, she knew that, but it still whomped.

She took the stone out of its nearby storage space and examined it in the dim light of her room.

" _Whosoever holds this stone, be they worthy, shall possess the powers of Mary Marvel_ ," Sakura read aloud in a language she did not know.

"I hope I am," she said softly before putting the stone away.

The stone was dead, she could feel it, but at the same time, she could feel that it might still be needed. It was the same feeling that had led her to it in the first place, so she thought it wise to follow it. Somehow she just knew that it would lead to something... magical.

* * *

Cody's A/N: If this series was meant as a test from God on expanding my writing horizons then I can find no better example of that than this story. A ten year old girl who is only talked about in canon takes on the powers of a character that the author hasn't studied nearly as much as other heroes. Luckily, Linkara's secret origins special was quick to finally give me ideas for this, and general research has filled in the gaps. Indeed, once I actually started writing this fic it was surprisingly easily, which is good.

General A/N: This week marks the last time simultaneous updates will be given. At least one update a week will still be given out, or we'll try to at least, but our team needs to have time to do other things. Four (soon to be five, and then six, and then seven) updates a week is just crazy as far as a schedule goes.


	2. Issue 2

_Issue #2_

Written by Cody Fett

Edited by Bob Regent, and Cyclone

SOESOE

The day after the attack by the laser tentacle monster Angel, Sakura was sitting in English class, waiting for her teacher to pass out their homework sheets for the next week. There was a shifting sound as he handed them to students and a thud when he got to her station. The young girl looked down to find a sizable folder on her desk.

"Mr. Batson!" Sakura whined.

"You got more because you'll be able to do more, Sakura," William Batson, the head English teacher at Tokyo-3 Municipal Middle School, informed his student. "You'll certainly have the time to after your little stunt yesterday."

Sakura groaned and once again regretted running outside the shelter on that day.

SOESOE

"I'm telling you, Nozomi, I don't know how I'm going to handle this next week," Sakura told her best friend as she struggled to pack the folder into her bag during the gap between classes.

"I don't know, but I'm guessing that it won't involve running into a warzone," Horaki Nozomi told her cheekily.

"Gee, you're a real pal, Nozomi," Sakura replied sarcastically, as was proper in an English class taught by an American, at least under the correct circumstances. Navigating that treacherous minefield in a competent fashion was just one of the reasons she was the top student in the class.

"Yeah, yeah, so what did it look like?" Nozomi asked, her eyes lighting up.

As one, the rest of the class seemed to lean in closer as well, and Sakura suddenly realized a certain upside to her previous actions.

"Well, I don't mean to understate things, but it was pretty awesome," the brown-haired young girl said conspiratorily.

"I knew it!" one of the boys at the back shouted.

As the class descended into a chaotic mess of questions and speculation, the door opened to reveal their math teacher, Miss Asaji. She took in the situation with all the grace afforded to her by years of teaching experience, and then dropped a large stack of books on the desk. The loud, reverberating thud made all look in her direction.

She looked each of them in the eyes before continuing, an odd grin on her face the whole time. "Congratulations, class. We're starting on algebra today, I hope you all brought your rulers, because you're not going to be using any calculators."

The class collectively groaned, and as Miss Asaji turned around, Sakura couldn't help but cross her arms in frustration. It seemed that it was just going to be one of those days.

SOESOE

Later on at lunch, Sakura was waiting in line to get her food from the lunch counter and reflecting that she had only been partially right. Math had turned out to be another one of Miss Asaji's grueling exercises, but history had been pretty fun. The teacher seemed to turn his mood around completely from earlier that year, and rather than filling the days with groaning about Second Impact and all the despair that followed, had instead animatedly talked about the Age of Heroes and all the great things that had come out of it.

For instance, Sakura had no idea that The Atom had been the one to invent the antimatter-matter reactor. It was a subject that the teacher had told them they should all be very interested in because of the three AM reactors that powered Nerv, Tokyo-3, and anything else that connected to their power grid because they just had so much of it. She was interested in it, but not for the reasons the teacher had told her to be. Even with the shame of her actions the previous day weighing down on her, she couldn't help but enjoy superheroes.

Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, that lighty fellow she couldn't remember the name of, Hawkgirl, Green Arrow, Doctor Fate, Blue Beetle, Black Canary, and so many more. The heroes of the past had filled her dreams, and now that the heroes were returning, her dreams were filled with the heroes - or rather, heroines - of the new.

Her musings were cut short by the approach of one of the biggest boys in the school. Towering over everyone stood in a sentry stance Feodor Ivaciovich Kalinin of class . . . actually, now that she thought about it, Sakura didn't know what class he was in, but he was the editor-in-chief of _The Torch_ , and that's what everyone knew him as. Well, that, and as "that guy who sucks on bundles of uncooked spaghetti like they're cigars."

"Can I help you with something, sir?" Sakura asked helpfully.

The rest of the students turned away and tried to look inconspicuous, while the large boy looked down at her and took the spaghetti bundle out of the corner of his mouth. "Perhaps," the big blue-eyed editor said evenly. "I am looking for Aida. I need to discuss plans for a radio station, and he said he had managed to capture some pictures of Batgirl last night. I want those pictures on the front page!"

Sakura's eyes lit up like their American neighbor's house on the Fourth of July. "Batgirl?! Holy smokes! There's a successor to Batman in this city?! That is so gas!"

" _Nyet_!" the editor said suddenly and with a very bold hand gesture. "It is not at all 'gas'. This 'Batgirl' is a masked menace that F. I. Kalinin shall help drag into the light before she harms anyone in our fair city!"

Sakura was taken aback by that, but she was hardly one to back down in the face of an influential angry Russian immigrant in a hurry who was three times her size. "Well, what has she done so far?"

"Just beat up gangsters, but you mark my words. I have a keen instinct about these sorts of things, and this Bat is going to go mad and kill soon, unless she's stopped." Suddenly, the editor's eyes were taken in by a distraction that just so happened to be his original objective. "Aida!" he shouted through the cafeteria before walking off. "You're eating squid at a time like this? Your instincts are terrible!"

Sakura watched him go with what she assumed was the same confused face that everyone else was sharing, but something else had sparked in her mind. What was it that Mr. Kalinin had said? Something about a radio station?

"Hey, Sakura," the girl in question's heart stopped at the sound of a young boy's voice, and she turned back around to see the heroic Ikari Shinji. "Have you seen Toji?" he asked dashingly.

"Eagle-snort quees nob . . ." Sakura sputtered out, her tongue and lips flailing about at random while her vocal cords spasmed uncontrollably, all while her mind desperately tried to compute that she was talking to her idol.

"He's over at table two," Nozomi explained from her spot in front of Sakura, pointing to the part of the cafeteria where Kensuke was being chewed out by his editor.

"Thanks, Nozomi," Shinji replied, walking off.

"Snorgle plotch geen kay!" Sakura called after him with a wave of her hand and a big smile before turning to hide her head in shame. "Oh, man, I blew it, Nozomi."

"Relax. It's not like we're the normal target of bullies, so they won't be looking out for such a juicy thing to tease you with," Nozomi explained in what she hoped was a helpful manner.

Sakura just moaned in pain and hid her face in her palms.

SOESOE

The rest of the week had passed mostly uneventfully, but had changed with the advent of Saturday. On that day, which started like any other, they once again found themselves under attack by an Angel. They had gone into the school shelter, and this time, Sakura was not leaving the shelter.

The fact that her brother was latched onto her like a barnacle had nothing to do with that. Instead, it had everything to do with her own shame; it was something she came back to often during her time in the shelter. Even the big event of trying to cobble together a connection to the other shelters to search for Kensuke and Hikari did little to raise her mood. After all, they were lost again, and that was nothing to get excited over.

Her mood only improved when the all-clear sounded, and it was safe to go out. She just hoped that every Angel attack wouldn't trigger that feeling of shame, though she knew it probably would.

SOESOE

Not long after the Angel attack and a little over 80 kilometers away from Tokyo-3, an enterprising scientist and his staff were preparing for the future.

"Is the fusion exploder ready yet?" the man in charge asked.

"Why not just call it a bomb?" one of the technicians muttered.

"Because it is _not_ a bomb!" came the roared response. "The fusion exploder initiates a self-sustaining series of controlled microexplosions, not an uncontrolled release of energy!" He sighed at the confused look. "It creates a lot of _little_ explosions, like the engine in a car, you nitwit." He paused, and added, "And besides, focus group testing says 'fusion exploder' is better for the company image. But nevermind that! Is it ready?"

"Uh, yeah, it's ready," the technician reported.

"Excellent! With that, the reactor will be ready to have the kryptonite fuel inserted on the day of the test, and when that happens, the Jet Alone will march into a bright tomorrow! And this company will march alongside it, headed by me, Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana!

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!" Doctor Sivana, CEO of Sivana Industries, laughed maniacally. The small bald man continued to laugh for almost a solid minute, almost doubling over at several points. Eventually though he caught his breath and slowed down. "Haha-heee . . . whoa! Heh. I needed that."

A glass of water was offered to him from off to the side, and he took it. "Thank you, Tokita. That was most refreshing," he said after finishing the glass.

"You're welcome, sir," Tokita Shiro replied with a smile. "Everything seems to be on track for a successful launch, doesn't it?"

"Indeed. It's been a long hard road, but after 15 years, Sivana Industries will finally be on top of the defense contracting world when the Jet Alone beats out the competition at Nerv as the best monster killing machine. After all, it is the fate of all creepy cyborgs to be beaten by radical robots," Sivana exposited happily.

Tokita was smiling too, glad at the idea of the company he worked for being successful. Suddenly, his expression fell as another thought popped into his head. "Sir, what if the UN doesn't accept the Jet Alone as a replacement to the Evas?" he said, sharing that thought with his boss.

"Then we'll just sell it to someone else. It's a giant fighting robot; those things sell like hot cakes every time a new one comes out," Sivana explained. "As long as nothing goes wrong at the test, we'll be fine."

"But what if something _does_ go wrong at the test?"

"Then we'll correct the problem and try again. As long as the prototype survives, we'll be OK."

"But what if the prototype doesn't survive?"

"Then we'll be asking my children for a loan," Doctor Sivana said before shaking his head. "Believe me, we do not want to go down that road."

Shiro thought about that idea for a second, and then shuddered. "I suppose you're right. Nothing can stop us now, and worrying will just guarantee someone making a mistake on that critical day."

"Quite right. At this rate, what could possibly go wrong?" the goblin-like man asked before getting a wistful look on his face. "And to think, all this was possible because I finally accepted Captain Marvel's advice and went legitimate. I wonder where the Big Red Cheese is now . . ."

SOESOE

Sakura sighed happily as she finished the last of her English homework in her folder. It had been difficult, but she had completed all the assignments with plenty of time to spare. It seemed that Mr. Batson had gone for quality over quantity this week, and as a consequence, she was able to get through it all in a reasonable amount of time.

After all, Suzuhara Sakura was a genius when it came to the English language, and that wasn't bragging. It was just a fact.

That done, she decided to engage in a time honored tradition of youth: goofing off. Granted, she would have liked to have been outside playing with Nozomi or one of her other fellows, but she was still grounded. Thus, she was left with only one option on what to do.

Walking into the living room she moved to the bookshelf and turned on the radio mounted on it. She adjusted the dial and hoped that she would be in time to catch her favorite program. It wasn't, but she decided to keep the dial turned to the station so that she'd be able catch when it did turn on. Until then, she'd read a magazine.

It wasn't five minutes later, though, that her wait was over though.

" _We say goodbye to the cast of_ Kayoko's Stalwarts _for today, and as we do we welcome another patriotic heroine of a different color . . ."_

As a stylized version of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" came over the radio's speakers, Sakura was already putting away the copy of _Whiz_ magazine. That done, she quickly went about straightening her T-shirt in joy, doing her best to make sure the stylized star-spangled logo appear straight. All before sitting down in front of the radio

" _By day, she's a normal American teenager, but when trouble's about, she dons the Cosmic Converter Belt and picks up her trusty Cosmic Staff to become Stargirl! She bands with her father, donning the powerful S.T.R.I.P.E. armor, and together they fight the forces of injustice and tyranny! So join us now for_ Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. _!"_

"YATTA!" Sakura cheered, raising her fist into the air as the theme music started in earnest. "Go get 'em, Stargirl!"

" _Today, we join our heroine in a familiar scene, at home with her father on a normal American Saturday morning . . ."_

" _Gee, Dad, thanks for fixing up my Power Converter Belt."_

" _No problem, Daughter. It was a cinch, thanks to my_ _mechanical_ _knowhow."_

Her fangirling aside, Sakura did have to admit to herself that the dialogue was a bit off. It was a sacrifice to protect the heroes' secret identities though, and she was fine with it. After all, it wasn't as if their civilian names mattered . . . her mind flashed to a smooth stone in her bedroom . . . did they?

 _*ring* *ring*_

 _*click*_

" _Yes, officer, this is S.T.R.I.P.E. . . . I see. Don't worry officer, we're on our way."_

" _Trouble, dad?"_

" _I'm afraid so. Icicle's on the loose, and he's holding the Opal City Zoo hostage."_

" _The fiend! He'll rue the day he ever tried."_

" _I'll get my suit, and we'll fly there in a jiff."_

 _*various mechanical noises*_

" _Using the incredible power of her Cosmic Staff, Stargirl flies to the scene of the crime, and beside her in the Special Tactics Robotic Integrated Power Enhancer suit is her father. They blaze through the sky and arrive to find many of Opal's finest frozen in stasis ice while many an animal cower in fear."_

" _This ice is no match for my Cosmic Staff. I'll have these good men out in no time."_

 _*whirring hiss*_

" _Keep alert, Stargirl. There's no telling where that criminal could be."_

" _I'm here, Powered Protector!"_

 _*Viiisssst crackle*_

" _Ah-ha-ha-ha! The city has no chance. Either they pay me the four million, or they'll never be able to use the zoo again!"_

" _AGH! His freeze ray has disabled me! Daughter, run!"_

" _No can do, Dad!"_

 _*POW!*_

" _Ow! You'll pay for that, you star-spangled brat!"_

" _You'll pay far more for your destruction of property, reckless endangerment, and animal cruelty, Icicle!"_

" _Fool! You'll never escape my . . ."_

 _*rapid beeping*_

" _We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin. The Jet Alone robot being tested at the old Tokyo proving grounds has run amok, its reactor has started to overload, and it's on a collision course with the city of New Yokosuka. The UN special security organization Nerv has deployed Eva-01 in an attempt to stop it, but things are looking grim. The superwomen are all otherwise occupied, and as the world waits with bated breath for more news one can only hope that all will turn out alright. We turn now to our reporter in the field."_

Sakura's jaw was completely slack by the end of the introduction, and she rushed over to the TV to confirm what the radio was saying. She tuned it to the news station and saw a lanky robot walking towards her city's twin. The text and voices were just the despicable icing on the traumatic cake.

Nerv was on the job, and valiant Shinji would surely save the day, but . . . but she was in a position to help too. She was still grounded, but her dad had always told her not to let regulation stand in the way of doing the right thing, so hopefully, he would understand. Besides, it wouldn't harm anything to just test if she had imagined things that week past.

After turning everything off and making sure that her door was safely locked, Sakura began running for the rooftop. She ran and ran, and eventually threw open the door to the roof of her apartment complex. It was bright and well-lit, but there was also a Nerv missile battery that obscured people's views of the roof and drew their attention. She would be safe, she thought.

As she moved aside some of Mrs. Kamakura's laundry she felt her heart beating faster than it ever had before. If this didn't work out, then she would go back down to her family's apartment and pray that Nerv would succeed. If it did . . . she didn't know what she would do. She'd been told she was worthy, but she wasn't sure she believed it.

Her heartbeat pounding louder than a jet engine inside her ear she advanced towards the edge of the roof. It was showtime, the point where she found out if she was a heroine or not. One word, that's all it would take. One word to change her life forever. She might as well shout it.

"SHAZAM!"

A terrific bolt of lightning came down from a cloudless sky with an ear-splitting crack and struck the young girl perfectly. Bright gold energy and piercing noise consumed her for all of a second, and then, just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. When the smoke cleared, Sakura was gone, and in her stead was a brown-haired woman in the prime of her life.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Information was flooding into her mind at a rate that would surely break the light speed barrier. Entire libraries and archives of information were at her instant beck and call, and more than that, she instinctively knew and felt that she would have the wisdom to use it properly.

There was a great commotion down on the street, and many a person were trying to make their voices heard. The woman confidently stepped towards the edge and looked down at the gathering crowd, who in turn looked up at her.

"They're looking at me, looking for a hero, or rather heroine, to save the day," she realized aloud.

Her face became resolute. "They'd need not fear, Miss Marvel is on the job!"

Like a red, white, and gold streak of light, Miss Marvel rocketed up into the sky towards Old Tokyo.

"Incredible. I can fly, and do so much more! Thanks to my mind's increased capabilities in this form, I don't need to waste time learning what my powers are at all."

Flexing her muscles and locking onto her target she did a corkscrew through a cloud.

"It isn't just my mind that's been enhanced in this form either. My eyes and reflexes are profoundly better than normal, and body has been given great strength and the form to match. I better be careful or else the press will label me as having the _beauty_ of Atalanta as well, and that would just be awkward for everyone involved."

There was a tremendous booming as the white-caped superheroine broke the sound barrier.

"And speed to boot! Is there anything this body _can't_ do?"

SOESOE

In his command center, Doctor Sivana was sweating bullets. His precious Jet Alone had gone berserk and wasn't listening to commands, and worse, the reactor was overloading despite it being physically impossible for it to do that. This wasn't new to him - during the First Age of Heroes his creations had run amok many a time - but back then, he didn't feel that there were any real consequences to his actions, and Captain Marvel or one of the other superheroes would just come in and stop said creation from rampaging. This time, there was no hero coming to save the day, and there were more consequences to his actions than he even wanted to think about.

"Tell Zmeck to start pushing buttons randomly. Maybe that will do something," Sivana ordered desperately. Nothing happened, of course. The Jet Alone just kept walking forwards.

"Eva-01 has been deployed, and Captain Katsuragi is beginning her insertion," Tokita reported.

"Good. Maybe we'll be able to help her fix things with two people in JA, somehow," Sivana said, knowing that it was a long shot at best. He paused to pick up a bottle of water and unscrewed the cap before drinking the entire thing in one go. "This was definitely sabotage. Most likely someone modified the autopilot system to bypass the activation inputs and modified the kryptonite reactor with explosives or sensor spoofers."

"Eva-01 has delivered Captain Katsuragi, and Zmeck is reporting that the inside has gotten really bloody hot," someone reported.

"HOW?!" Sivana replied. "Did someone replace the kryptonite reactor with a fission pile covered in napalm when I wasn't looking? Because I'm not seeing how else any of this is possible!"

"Sir, things just got even more impossible," Tokita reported. "Look at screen five."

Sivana looked at the screen, and his mind froze. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"It's Mary Marvel, sir," Tokita said, confusion and wonder in his voice.

"That's not Mary," Sivana said quietly.

SOESOE

"Gadzooks! That robot is quite the big catch. Luckily, Unit-01 seems to have the situation well in hand," Miss Marvel said as she arrived on the scene.

Evangelion Unit-01 had been deployed, and was currently holding the Jet Alone like it was a gridiron football player at Big Stadium in Tokyo-3.

"While he's holding it back, I'll fly in and stop everything from blowing up in his cute face," the red-clad superwoman said as she floated down to the Jet Alone's back.

"If this robot was designed with any kind of sense, the entrance should be right... here."

Miss Marvel dove into the back of Jet Alone and through several layers of shielding and electronics.

SOESOE

"NO! What is she doing?!" Sivana shouted at the top of his lungs. "The entrance was just five feet to the left! She didn't need to do that!"

"Sir, several of the regulators have been destroyed, and the reactor's self-destruct mechanism has been tripped!" Tokita reported in a manner most panicked.

Sivana wasn't sure how to respond to that, but eventually found the appropriate phrase. "Oh, biscuits."

SOESOE

Bare hands tore open the door to the cockpit, and through the newly created hole stepped the rookie heroine.

"Who are you?!" Captain Katsuragi demanded, her glare just barely visible behind the transparent top of her radiation suit.

"Miss Marvel, I'm here to . . ."

". . . Screw everything up!" Zmeck, the Jet Alone's pilot, cut her off. "You tripped the reactor's self destruct mechanism and blew through the shielding!"

Miss Marvel was not expecting to hear that, and before she could respond, there was a large explosion. She was knocked off her feet, and when she got up, she saw that the cockpit had been flooded with a silver liquid metal and more forms of radiation than even her incredible super-senses could detect. Both Zmeck and Katsuragi were lying partially submerged in the metal with various ruptures in their suits.

"No. No! . . . I've failed, but I can't let this get any worse!"

Miss Marvel shot out with the swiftness of Zephyrous and picked up the two injured adults with the strength of Hippolyta; she ran as fast as she could out the hole she had made earlier. She launched herself off the back of the Jet Alone and flew through the air back towards the proving grounds and the medical staff on station. It wasn't as fast as she would have liked, but it was fast enough.

"They've been seriously injured and need help."

The paramedics, in response, let loose a litany of uncouth words as they struggled to assess the damage done to the two humans.

Miss Marvel never got the chance to hear what they were saying, though; she was already flying back to the Jet Alone at supersonic speeds. The robot had slumped and stopped moving, thanks to the destruction of its reactor, but the white-caped heroine didn't need her super senses to tell her that it was still a danger.

"I shall take care of this machine! You go tend to your friend back at the proving grounds!" she shouted loud enough for the Eva to hear.

As the Eva moved out of the way, Miss Marvel caught the robot's falling form. "I'd like to say I'm saving the day to you, but you're both danger to others and not alive. So with a mighty ooph from my super strength, I shall lift you into the air and up into the sky!"

And that she did, rising high and higher at a rapid pace with the Jet Alone until she was breaking through the ionosphere and even further. She continued to speedily ascend until she fully cleared the atmosphere and threw the Jet Alone as hard as she could.

"Off you go! Now you can detonate safely . . . Any second now. Any second. . . . Huh. That's not at all odd and is perfectly in line for the design specification. How surprising. Well, in any case, it's good that I threw it on a collision course with Neptune using my fantastic super brain. After all, as Miss Asaji is fond of saying, one never eyeballs a firing solution, because Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest man in space."

As she watched Jet Alone continue to quickly drift away, her eyes suddenly got very wide.

"Hokey smokes. I can survive and talk in space."

SOESOE

William Batson, the English teacher in Tokyo-3 in his early thirties, sat in his small apartment watching the television with absolute awe as images of a bygone age played, while the sanity of the world slowly slipped away. All in the focus of a breaking news segment.

 _"Today in the Kanto prefecture, the day was saved after the Jet Alone mecha, manufactured by Sivana Industries, suffered a catastrophic malfunction that almost caused the machine to self-destruct in a populated area. Fortunately, a new superheroine, introducing herself as Miss Marvel, was on hand to stop the robot, and she was helped by an unlikely supporter: Nerv deployed their Evangelion Unit-01 to help literally stop the robot in its tracks. Unfortunately, the Jet Alone pilot, retired US Air Force Major Clifford Zmeck, and Nerv Operations Director Captain Misato Katsuragi were both injured in the incident and are in critical condition at Hakone General._

 _"Doctor Thaddeus Sivana, CEO of Sivana Industries and former supervillain, had this to say on the incident..."_

The screen changed to show Doctor Sivana weeping on the ground outside the Old Tokyo Proving Grounds Main Building.

 _"They threw it into space! Those fiends, those wretched fiends, they destroyed it! Years of work ruined. Ruined! I swear this day an oath of vengeance! Vengeance! I swear an oath of vengeance against the Marvel Family who tore apart my beloved Jet Alone! And I swear an oath of vengeance against Nerv and/or Japan Heavy Chemical Industries, who are the most likely causes of the foul sabotage that led to Miss Marvel ruining it! Vengeance! I—I—I... oh, so many years of work down the drain."_

 _"Doctor Sivana declined to clarify if this was a new oath of vengeance against the Marvel Family or a reinstatement of the old one. In other news, a baby panda was rescued from a tree in Hokkaido by the local fire department."_

By the end of the segment, Mr. Batson's head was firmly cupped in his hands.

SOESOE

As he stood on the balcony of his apartment after a dinner of cheap miso soup and hot dogs, William Batson looked out on the city he had come to call his home with renewed eyes. It was wonderous, it was depressing, it was fantastic, and it was horrifying, but now, it was something else. Somewhere out there, the magic had been reborn, and someone worthy had been found.

He just wondered if he was still worthy, or if something was missing.

Inhaling deeply, he said a single soft word.

"Shazam."

SOESOE

Cody's A/N: Remember how I said that I wanted at least one update a week? Life did not agree, and I burned out. Hopefully this chapter will get me over that, but I'm not sure. _Elite: Dangerous_ is, after all, still on my hard drive.

Fun fact though, the sequence with the radio play was a compressed version of the events of _Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #0_ , which featured a double story focusing on the first Star-Spangled Kid in the past while Courtney and her father teamed up with Starman in the future. The past story had Icicle as he held the Opal water treatment plant hostage for four million USD, and the future story had his son being very creepy and threatening in a zoo.

As for Kalalin sucking on a bundle of pasta. Well, it's an old habit of mine, and a reference to the fact that he was originally named after an Italian warship. He was called Akiyo U. Maiale, and his personality was . . . pretty much the same, actually, just less developed due to a lack of time.


End file.
